Tithes and Offerings
357
“And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not
destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit
before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations
shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the
Lord of hosts.” If all who profess the truth will come up to the claims
of God in giving the tenth, which God says is His, the treasury will be
abundantly supplied with means to carry forward the great work for
the salvation of man.
God gives man nine tenths, while He claims one tenth for sacred
purposes, as He has given man six days for his own work and has
reserved and set apart the seventh day to Himself. For, like the Sabbath,
a tenth of the increase is sacred; God has reserved it for Himself. He
will carry forward His work upon the earth with the increase of the
means that He has entrusted to man.
God required of His ancient people three yearly gatherings. “Three
times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in
the place which He shall choose; in the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles: and they
shall not appear before the Lord empty: every man shall give as he
is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath
given thee.” No less than one third of their income was devoted to
sacred and religious purposes.
Whenever God’s people, in any period of the world, have cheerfully
and willingly carried out His plan in systematic benevolence and
in gifts and offerings, they have realized the standing promise that
prosperity should attend all their labors just in proportion as they
obeyed His requirements. When they acknowledged the claims of
God and complied with His requirements, honoring Him with their
substance, their barns were filled with plenty. But when they robbed
God in tithes and in offerings they were made to realize that they were
not only robbing Him but themselves, for He limited His blessings to
them just in proportion as they limited their offerings to Him.
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Some will pronounce this one of the rigorous laws binding upon
the Hebrews. But this was not a burden to the willing heart that loved
God. It was only when their selfish natures were strengthened by with-
holding that men lost sight of eternal considerations and valued their
earthly treasures above souls. There are even more urgent necessities
upon the Israel of God in these last days than were upon ancient Israel.